"One Game" takes the familiar melody and structure of Linkin Park's 2000 hit "In the End" and rewrites the lyrics around a single joke: PlayStation consoles don't have enough exclusive titles to justify buying them. The parody follows a narrator who purchases a PS5 only to realize the game library is thin, turning Chester Bennington's existential angst into gamer frustration.

The song fits into a longer tradition of console war humor on 4chan's /v/ (video games) board, where mocking PlayStation's exclusive lineup has been a running bit since the PS3 era2. What sets "One Game" apart from typical copypasta is that it actually got performed. Chris Voiceman's vocal recording gave the joke real production value, turning forum shitposting into something people could share on YouTube and social media as an actual song2.

The format also spawned imitations. After the PS5 Pro announcement in September 2024, /v/ users wrote entirely new parody songs based on other classic tracks, including a PlayStation version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"2.

The roots of PlayStation parody songs stretch back further than "One Game" itself. Console war trash talk on /v/ has always generated creative output, and the "PS3 Has No Games" meme of the late 2000s was fertile ground for musical jokes.

On February 5, 2010, an anonymous 4chan user posted a parody of Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain" rewritten as "Heavy Rain," mocking the PS3's thin exclusive lineup while referencing the Quantic Dream game1. The post circulated through reposts for years2. Before May 20, 2015, Tumblr user suckmymara posted a PlayStation parody based on America's "A Horse With No Name," though that post is no longer available2.

The specific "One Game" parody kicked off on March 26, 2020, when an anonymous user dropped the first three lines of a Linkin Park "In the End" rewrite in a /v/ thread. Another user in the same thread added six more lines2. Over April and May 2020, different anonymous contributors kept building out the lyrics until May 9, 2020, when someone posted what became the definitive version on /v/2.

Nine days later, on May 18, 2020, voice actor Chris Voiceman recorded himself singing the completed lyrics and posted the audio in a /v/ thread. On June 2, 2020, YouTube user SwagItUp uploaded the recording, where it picked up over 3.4 million views over four years2. Chris Voiceman later uploaded an extended cut on December 19, 2020, which pulled another 2.2 million views2.

"One Game" sits at the intersection of two long-running internet traditions: console war memes and song parody copypasta. The "In the End" template was already well-established in meme culture through formats like "In the Virtual End," making the PlayStation version an easy fit for audiences already familiar with Linkin Park parody memes2.

The combined 5.6 million YouTube views across the two main uploads show the song crossed well beyond /v/'s audience2. The meme's longevity is notable. It stayed relevant from 2020 through at least 2024, getting revived each time PlayStation made news that played into the "no games" narrative.

The collaborative songwriting process on /v/ is itself a good example of how imageboard culture produces creative works. Multiple anonymous users contributed lyrics over weeks before anyone recorded a note, and the final product reflects dozens of contributors who will never be individually credited2.